


Wards of the Winds

by chogiwaeee



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Action, Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Aftermath of Torture, Aftermath of Violence, Alternate Universe - MAMA (Music Video), Alternate Universe - Medieval, Angst, Drama, Drama & Romance, Explicit Language, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Humor, Mild Gore, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mild Sexual Content, Mild Smut, Past Torture, Past Violence, Psychological Torture, Sexual Humor, Strong World, Swords & Sorcery, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-09
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-08-20 12:10:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8248267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chogiwaeee/pseuds/chogiwaeee
Summary: All Kyungsoo wanted was to be able to sit peacefully at the park and eat his lunch. But how could that be possible when someone grabbed his shoulder and he ended up on a hill; completely nude. Kyungsoo must learn how to survive in an unknown realm where everyone has magic, there is the threat of war, and try to get through the day with out being set on fire or run over by a horse.Join the fun with the different character POV's, the romance and author notes from Chogi (Kate) and WaEEE (Emily).





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone who has decided to read this book, we the authors have welcomed you to a wonderful family. We hope you enjoy this story that we created. This is a mix of medieval England and the EXO boys so it should be every interesting. We are also quite bad at making notes, so they will be short and sweet throughout the book.
> 
> Please enjoy.

_**Prologue** _

  
All most everything in the woods was quite, no rustle from the trees as the wind blew by, no sound coming from the bird’s wings as they flew through the air. The only sound that Kim Daehyun chose to hear was the laughter of Mia Jaclyn, but it wasn’t like he had any choice in that matter. Daehyun had accidently told Mia that her laugh sounded like a herd of dying cats, which made Mia accidently turn off Daehyun’s ability to hear anything, except for her laugh. Mia possessed the ability of enhanced hearing but also the ability to make others hear anything she wanted.

  
Daehyun lifted his head up from where he was lying down to face Mia, “Mia please, make this racket stop, I am trying to focus.”

  
“In three months you are going to be married to me,” Mia said as she got up and stretched. “I think you should get use to my laugh.”

  
Mia walked over to Daehyun and sat cross legged next to him. He maneuvered himself so his head was placed in her lap, she gazed down at him and smiled. Mia started to play with his hair by wrapping it around her caramel finger, she picked up one of the books they brought with them. Daehyun decided that Mia’s voice was one of his favorites; he could listen to whatever she was saying and not get bored.

  
He decided to sit up and give Mia a small peck on the cheek, then softly lying back down on the soft grass. Mia joined him by putting her head in the crook of his neck and lazily dangling her arm over his torso. Daehyun started to fall asleep but the sound of hooves made him bolt upright, nearly colliding with Mai’s face; which isn’t particularly a bad thing.

  
Coming before them was two horses, one with an empty saddle and the other, filled with a man who was heavily dressed in armor. As the man slid off his horse, Daehyun and Mia both straightened. Daehyun didn’t need to see this man’s face to know who it was, the badge on the left breast gave that way. The badge was gold and engraved into it was what looked like an arrow facing upwards. This was the badge of “The King’s Knight.”

  
“Lady Jaclyn,” Maditrius bowed towards Mia. Mia smiled and nodded her head, “Prince Daehyun. I am glad that you are here. There has been a mild disturbance on Ascelyn hill, your father Daehyun, thought it would be good practice for you. Lady Jaclyn, I brought a horse so you could go back to the castle.”

  
Mia smiled and dipped her head towards Maditrius, “Thank you sir.” She walked over to the white horse and clambered on. Mai started to trot away, back towards the omnipotent wall that guarded the city. He decided to get on to his horse, Daehyun started to walk slowly behind Maditrius. It was barely two minutes before Daehyun and Maditrius heard someone screaming their names. Mia. Daehyun turned around and saw Mai galloping towards them.

  
Before he could say anything to Maditrius, he fell off his horse and ended with his back to the floor, there was a striking pain in his right shoulder; when he looked there was an arrow head jarred into his shoulder. He screamed out in pain and standing above him was Mia. Daehyun couldn’t really hear anything but he felt himself being lifted off the ground by Maditrius and being placed up onto a horse.

  
Mia gripped his hand as she tried to get up onto the horse. Before she managed to, her hand went limp and she coughed up blood. Daehyun forgot all about his pain as he fell off the horse, again, and landed near Mia, Maditrius called out to him but Daehyun didn’t listen. Mia had an arrow head sticking out through her stomach, her abdomen was all covered in blood as she lay there coughing up the blood. Daehyun was calling orders to Maditrius to help and soon enough he was there, he started to work on Mia by using his water magic to clear the wound.

  
Around Daehyun there was a buzzing sound, he looked upwards and discovered that there was a faint blue glowing cylinder around them all. There was dark blue lines coming from Maditrius going through the ground into Daehyun and Mia. All the pain in Daehyun’s shoulder seemed to vanish, the arrow head looked like it was being pushed out of his skin.

  
Maditrius started to turn white and as on impulse Daehyun grabbed the blue cloth, which seemed to be cover them. As he touched it, he felt himself lean into the power which surged around the cloth. When he looked at his skin he could see his vanes turn a bright blue and change direction of flow. The flow faced towards the dome that was covering them, the more he tried to pull his hands away from the sheet, the more of his power seemed to flow away from him.  
Mia grabbed his foot which pulled him out of whatever trance he was in and he fell back to the ground, right next to Mia. Mia seemed to grab his hand and hold it, she never let go and neither did Daehyun. The only time they let go was when they both had to be put under intense care in the castle infirmary.

 

 

 

It took Mia nearly three months to awaken fully from the comma she was in. Each day she was in that comma, Daehyun and the rest of the Kingdom of Seani started to notice a growing, glimmering dome absorb the town. Within the dome there was floating sigils of many magic owning families, when Daehyun asked the families about this, they all gave the same answer. They all felt like they were being called to, when they touched the dome, they could feel a little slither of their power escape them and their sigil would be left behind. Daehyun started to come to the conclusion that the dome took more of his power than it meant to, since then all that he could do was shape shift into was a wolf.

 

 

 

Daehyun made his way towards the court room. Sunday’s were never good days to be beckoned to the court room. He pushed open the large, heavy, wooden doors, not everyone could open these doors. Only the people gifted with strength could open the doors, even though Daehyun had been stripped of his powers, he has learnt how to adapt to his new outlook.

  
For almost all the time that Mia was in her comma, Daehyun read to Mia about wolves. He learnt about their strength and eyesight, he learnt to change his body to hold these traits permanently.

  
There was only two people in the court room as Daehyun entered, Maditrius and Mai; now permanently held in her wheel chair. Daehyun walked up to Maditrius and stopped when he reached to Mia, her usual bright glow was gone. Mia didn’t make eye contact with him even when he gripped her hand.

  
Maditrius coughed and Daehyun brought his attention back to him. “There is going to be a court meeting later today about Mai’s situation and if she is seen fit to be the next queen. As you are aware, Daehyun you will be married to whoever your fathers seems fit.” Be breathed a long breath out, “And as rule goes: If the next King or Queen was a major scar or deformity, they will not be seen fit to run the country.” Mia nor Daehyun said anything, and with this chance he stole a glimpse at her. She looked exactly the same as she did when he walked in, stone cold and emotionless. “I just thought I should warn you before the final decision is made.”

  
Maditrius nodded to Mia and Daehyun, then walked out of the room. Only when the door closed did Daehyun go towards Mia. He knelt in front of her and saw her tear marks stain her face, Daehyun didn’t say anything. All he did was move one hand to her face and the other to her waist, he wiped the tears with the back of his hand. When most of them were gone they just stayed there looking at each other.

  
“Be a great king.”

  
That was all it needed to take for Daehyun to press his lips firmly against Mia. The kiss wasn’t rushed or hard, it was delicate and slow. There was an unspoken sentence that floated between them, but it was confirmed as Daehyun’s ankle and waist started to glow.

 

Daehyun never married Mia. He married a woman called Chunhuna, she was from one of the major kingdoms from across the oceans. Daehyun couldn’t deny that Chunhuna was a beautiful woman and had a beautiful personality, but she was no Mia.

  
After their wedding, Daehyun adventured into the kingdom in search for Mia. When he arrived to her parents’ house, all they could give him was a note.

  
_Daehyun,_  
_I am no good with letters so I will keep this short. I have decided to move away, there is no possible way for me to sugar coat this. With you being the future King, and I trying to live my life now like this, there is no possible way that we can see each other again. Our feelings mustn’t cause a distraction to the bigger picture: you running a kingdom. I believe you will be a great king. The one thing I ask of you is that you mustn’t look for me._  
_Goodbye,_  
_Mia_

 

 

Daehyun did exactly as Mia asked. He became a great king.

 

 

* * *

  
Authors Notes:  
Hello this is Waeee, also known as Emily. I am going to keep this short and sweet, I am super excited to be co-writing this book with Kate. This I hope, will be really fun and exciting too work on. If any of you guys have ideas, don’t be hesitant to comment them bellow.

Hey this is Chogi, also known as Kate. Like Emily, I am super pumped about co-writing this book with her, since for years we have tried and failed at continuing a story along; so I hope this works out. I do have an Instagram account which I post quite frequently called @chogiwaee so it would be great for you to check it out.  
All the characters in the prologue are fictional characters Em and I created, so if there is any resemblance to any other characters out in the fictional world, we apologies.


	2. A story you won’t believe

_Author Note from Chogi:_

_Hi guys, this is just a really quick note before you get started reading. For the character POV titles I have used their stage name and real name. However throughout the book, most of the characters will keep their real names._

* * *

 

**_ D.O / Kyungsoo _ **

The grass wasn’t soft like when I left it, this grass was scratching and spiking my skin in places where it shouldn’t. I sat up and looked around, I was sat on the side of a hill underneath a tree, what type of tree I didn’t care for, because I was more worried about my wellbeing.

I was completely naked.

Earlier, I was in Seoul’s Independence Park, I was there finishing off my research task on the Seodaemun Prison History museum. It was late autumn and I was peacefully eating my sandwich, when someone grabbed my shoulder. There was a split second when I could see him, tanned and these brown eyes which were captivating. There was this rushing sound and next I was in ... I have no idea where I was.

“Well that was dramatic,” a voice spoke from around me, I tried to stifle a scream. “I mean dropping down from the sky like that and also being completely nude, it’s quite extravagant.”

I wished to jump up and find this man but I wanted to keep my modesty about me, so I neared towards to the taller grass. “Where am I?” Directing that to nowhere in particular, “and where are you?”

“First, you are on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Seani. Second,” There was a thud and in front of me was a tall, lanky man, with one of the biggest smiles I have ever seen. “I am in front of you.”

“I can see that,” I said coldly still aware I was very much exposed to this man. He was wearing what looked like rags and said I was in the kingdom of _Seani._ Geography was never my best lesson, I have always preferred history, and never have I encountered that name. Slowly breathing in and out I asked, “Where on Earth am I located.” Seeing if rewording my question would help, sadly I was wrong.

“ _Earth?_ You seemed to be mistaken, you are in Gwigonn, and you know the realm.” I wanted to reply and say _no I don’t!_ But the man said that with so much conviction and truth, the bubble of hope I had popped. I fell back down to the ground, the repeating motion of smacking my hands against the hard ground must have shocked this man. He came up to me and touched my shoulder, I jerked away screaming in great pain.

“Sorry, I am so sorry,” This man repeated until I told him it was alright. “Is there anything I can do?”

Quietly I murmured, “Yes,” looking up to this man, his cheerful smile earlier was replaced with a thin line. I sighed and quietly said, “Do you have any clothes?”

That thin line disappeared into a cheerful smile as he took off his _satchel bag,_ he reached into the bag and was pulling things out like a mad man. Shortly after, it seemed like he cleared everything out of that bag, he threw at me a beige; long-sleeved top made of cloth and some brown, woolen pants; then he threw a pair of shoes and belt at me. After I was changed and rolled up my pants and sleeves to my top, I walked back over to this man, he handed me what looked like bread and asked if I would like some, I declined and he put the bread in his mouth.

“Good thing I was prepared,” he said taking a bite of his bread. “You see my mum always says ‘ _Chanyeol one of these days you are going to go set fire to yourself’.”_

So that was his name, _Chanyeol._

_“_ Fire?” I asked, “Why light a fire in a field of grass?”

He looked at me and tilted his head, “You’re from Haelawyr!” He shouted starting to back away from me. “You are a Heurloquk and I am most defiantly not supposed to talk to you.” He started to pack but I ran up to him and grabbed his bag.

“I am not from Haelawyr,” not even trying to say the other word. The scarred look of Chanyeol’s face started to deteriorate, even though I said that; he still had an accusing sense about him. Trying not to scream or mock him, I puffed out, “I am also not from Seani in the Gwigonn Realm. I am from Seoul, South Korea.”

His face hardened up again and he pointed an accusing finger right in my face, “That place sounds very fake.” He came up to me and grabbed his bag and sat back down again to keep packing.

I raised an eyebrow and let out a breath that I didn’t realize I was holding. When I looked back over again to Chanyeol a wave of ... everything from anger to sadness, annoyance to self-loathing hit me at once. Then the thought of never being able to go home made me fall to the floor, I grabbed my knees and pulled them to my chest whilst staring off into the landscape in front of me.

There was a wood, too small to be a forest in front of me, if I looked hard enough I could see the faint puffs of smoke which meant there were homes nearby. To the left of me there was a scuffling sound and when I looked over, Chanyeol stood up and walked over to me, he held out a hand and I took it. He pulled me up and patted me on the back.

“You’re really not around from here are you?” He stated looking for my agreement, I nodded as he carried on. “Well what’s your name, since I have already given you mine?”

Hesitantly I said, “Kyungsoo.”

Chanyeol managed to create a bigger smile, “Kyungsoo I like it, does anyone call you Soo?” I nodded a no and he went back to talking. “Well you must have magic,”

“Magic?”

“Yes magic, you know the stuff that comes out of your hands,” he waved his hands in my face. When he did so, a faint light amber of a flame appeared around his fingers. Jumping back I screamed, regrettably louder than I wished.

“This must be bad. Okay let me give you some help with understanding this. If you look carefully, around us there are these wards that protect us. These wards keep out any person who doesn’t have magic, you’re lucky to land just outside these wards. If you don’t have magic than _boom,_ your little body parts would be floating down into my lovely town.” He made a sound and hand gestures to follow. “This also means that every person born under these wards has magic. There are nine different groups that you will fall into and your magic determines what job you get. Obviously there are more common powers than others.”

“My first question is, how do you know I have magic?” I paused and looked at the sky, the wards weren’t noticeable at first glance but when looking hard enough, I saw these shimmering shapes with intricate designs.

“I don’t, I just _assumed_ you did,” Chanyeol looked at me with a smirk.

* * *

 

**_ Jongdae / Chen _ **

Jongin found me in the south tower, the fading sunlight providing enough light so that I could inspect the pages of my books some hours more. Surrounded by grandeur marble architecture, the light was reflected tenfold, so I could see in vivid detail the darkness under my brother’s eyes and the redness that rimmed them also.

“Tired, brother?” I called out, refusing to supply him any further attention. I turned the page on Gwigonn: A Realm’s Journey, waiting for a reply of some kind, whether it be an explanation or simply a disgruntled groan.

Apparently, Jongin was too wiped out to supply either, or anything in between, and simply collapsed onto the wooden bench beside me and stared off across the castle grounds. I raised my eyes and we watched the gardens. I ended up allowing him to sit in silence for some minutes before my patience caved and I discarded the book.

“Were you on a job?” I enquired, even though I already knew the answer. His nod was no surprise. “Okay.” I paused. “You want to talk?”

“No.” The first word I’d heard from him in days. “No, it wasn’t…”

He cleared his throat and turned away from me slightly, eyes glued on the purpling horizon as we sat, once again, in silence. The sky looked like a bruise, and I could have sworn that in the time it took for Jongin to speak further, the color had deepened.

“I was just thinking.” Jongin murmured, his voice almost carried away in the wind. “What good are we doing these people?”

\---

Sundays was always a busy day in the court room, so it was no surprise that Jongin was able to slip into the hall moments before the king stood to gather our attention. He sidled up next to me, bumping my shoulder with his as way of greeting; in reply, I extracted my hands from my pockets and shoved him into the stone wall behind us. He bounced back, stifling laughter into the back of his hand as our father stood.

His voice was an authoritative drone that rumbled its way to meet us at the back of the room. The tone and accent were both things I associated with my childhood; stern reprimands whenever my brother or I stepped out of line. Today, however, father was talking of trade routes and the season market. Jongin seemed to be interested; after all, news of the economy was an interesting subject for the perfect son of the king, whereas I was struggling to catch his words.

“How did the job go?” I hissed, swaying close to Jongin so my voice wouldn’t carry. “Uncle says it went well.”

Jongin hummed in agreement, managing to still look enraptured by whatever subject father had lumbered into. Still, stood so close, I didn’t miss the small, suppressed smile that lightened up my brother’s features. “It went fine.”

And, again, I watched as Jongin’s eyes brightened slightly; whoever it was must have been something special. “What were they like?” I asked after a short pause, almost huffing out a chuckle at the slightest tint of red that overtook Jongin’s cheeks as he considered the answer. However I never gained a reply, Father beckoned Jongin and I towards the front of the room. Jongin winked at me and almost immediately we were beside father.

For whomever Jongin is moving, the teleportation lasts as long as a blink of an eye. He’d explained the process to me when we were young. For them it feels like instantaneously disappearing, and then appearing somewhere else, whether it be the castle or the town, or the hill to the west. It is a single step for them, but for Jongin, it’s an entire journey. The point of contact he keeps with them is like a bond that builds with the thousands of steps it takes for Jongin to return home. He drags them through space and time until all that’s left of them is their core, and that single point of contact. Jongin had told me, late one school night, that it’s like touching everything they’ve ever been; every conversation, every decision, every mistake. Their thoughts become his thoughts and when he leaves them it’s like abandoning some part of himself on the hill to the west. By the end of the journey, Jongin knows the person in the way they know themselves.

__

* * *

 

**_ D.O / Kyungsoo _ **

Chanyeol guided me down the hill which was much larger than expected, there were faint footprints in front of us plastered in the ground. The hill wasn’t steep, so it seemed like hours before we got to the wards. I wasn’t sure if the antagonizing walk was due to my fear of being blown up or Chanyeol’s talking.

He just never shut’s up.

“If you pass through these wards you will officially be one of my friends,” he laughed and nudged me on the shoulder which wasn’t in pain. “I do have friends ... but I think most of them are pity friends set up by my mum. Although I do have this friend called Baekhyun, or Baek for short, he can control light which is really cool but annoying when I am doing my chores. He likes to use it-”

I stopped listening after that. There was no way I could pass through those wards, I have never done _magic_ or used _magic._ There was a louder and stronger buzzing sensation when Chanyeol and I walked up to the wards. I stopped to look at the wards, they seemed to be floating within a translucent blanket, bobbling up and down, and they were changing into other wards and then dying away.

“That ward there,” I said tapping Chanyeol’s shoulder and pointing to the area where the ward faded away. “It disappeared. Do all of them disappear?”  

Chanyeol looked at me then back at the wards, “The protection wards,” He pointed to a big ward with an arrow head with the hollow circle inside of it. “Are helped by all the other wards located around. Each month a group of about seven, go to the wards and give the protection wards a small slither of their power. This is what causes the other smaller wards, since each sub-division of the nine powers has a sigil. ”

My palms started to feel clammy as Chanyeol walked through the wards, he was trying to say something but the blanket must also keep in any sounds. Once Chanyeol realized this, he started to make some hand motions which then turned into body motions of him jumping up and down. With a sigh I walked forward but before I could stop and re-evaluate my actions, a hand, Chanyeol’s godforsaken hand, grabbed my wrist and pulled me through. He pulled me so hard that I landed face first into the ground.

At least I’m alive.

When I stood up and dusted myself off, I casted an accusing finger over in Chanyeol’s direction, “What the hell was that! Pulling me through, I could have died!” Chanyeol wasn’t looking in my direction or gave any indication to my comment. He was staring back at the hill with a solemn expression.

Chanyeol must have sensed my discomfort since he turned around and started walking down the dirt path in front. There was nothing to be seen except for the dirt path ahead of us, the trees on either side were so thick that if you managed to get yourself in there, there was no way you would get out. The silence of this walk was peaceful, though I couldn’t see the kingdom I could definitely hear the faint hum coming from it. I was content on staying quite until Chanyeol spoke again.

“My bread,” I looked up to him with a cocked eyebrow. “I left my bread on the hill and it’s your fault.”

Confused, I stopped and turned to him but he kept moving so I jogged up to him and grabbed his shoulder. “My fault, how is it _my_ fault if _you_ left _your_ bread on that hill?”

“When you pulled my bag, I must have dropped it,” I tried not to roll my eyes but he must have guessed my annoyance.

“Surly you could just ask the man with bread making magic to make you some.”  I said sarcastically making my way along the path.

When he caught up with me he said quietly, “I would but when I was working there once, I accidently set most of his bakery on fire.”

_Of course he did_.

Going into my thoughts I tried to remember what I’ve learnt in history about Medieval England, since these clothes defiantly weren’t from Medieval Korea.  I chuckled thinking about how ironic it was that our next topic in history was going to be on Medieval England. However I stopped chuckling remembering there was a very small chance that I would get to visit that topic.

Once when I was listening to Chanyeol, he was giving me information on different powers, like how teleport magic is very popular but no one _should_ have that much magic to go between universes. When I asked how he knew, he shrugged and said that there was some board which told you what type of magic you had. There was a way that you could find a particular magic to help you with work. On the board it was marked what sub-division power you had and how strong you were. The stronger your magic was, the more money you earned.

In my mists of thinking, I realized that I walked onto a wooden draw bridge. There were large brick walls as far as the eye could see, upwards and to my left and right. In front of the walk way there was an iron door, which must have been at least ten feet tall with two guards dressed in a pale green, standing at the doorway and above them read _West Bridge Entrance._ When we walked closer the guards didn’t say anything just nodded to Chanyeol and I, I looked closer at them and saw they had different symbols on their left breast.

“What do those symbols mean,” I asked feeling like a school kid talking to his teacher, “On their left breast.”

“The one with the eye looking shape is enhanced eye sight, he claims that he can see down that path to where the wards are.” Chanyeol rolled his eyes but carried on, “The other one, the wave and two circles is enhanced hearing.”

The tunnel was quite deep about a hundred meters or so, to my surprise the walls were very intriguing. I looked closer and saw they were covered in symbols like the wards, then I realized these were wards. It seemed that every ward was in here, I wanted to look up and see how far they went, but Chanyeol hadn’t realized I stopped. Once I caught up to him we were outside with the blinding sun in our faces.

“Soo, welcome to Seani.”

 

 

* * *

 

Authors Note:

Emily – The first chapter is finally completed *insert yay sound*, there will be more characters introduced later so look out for them.

Kate – I hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter, we don’t officially have a second date for the next chapter, so keep an eye out for it.

 


	3. Fighting in the Market.

 

**_ D.O / Kyungsoo _ **

Seani, much to my surprise was like a more ‘ _powered up Kings landing’_ and by ‘ _powered up,’_ I mean you can feel power radiating off of people. I was amazed how their use of magic was like our use of Wi-Fi or the internet, undoubtedly I should have known.

When Chanyeol and I walked down the sandy streets, there was an older woman and a younger child doing the laundry with magic. The child held her hands out to the soapy water bucket and directed them very slowly towards the shirt, this shirt was suspended in midair; I assumed by the older woman. The little girls forehead was scrunched up as the littlest amount of water, barely a handful was extracted up into the air. The woman directed the child to move her hands over to the shirt as the little girl did so, the water dropped on to the floor. There were tears forming in the little girl’s eye as she just stared at the puddle.

This somehow reminded me of my brother, not that this girl and he looked anything a like, just in the way they acted, my brother would get so frustrated at his homework he would start crying. I smiled at the thought, I wasn’t completely sad to be away from home just ... insecure. There was so much to learn about myself and this kingdom: I needed to learn about what my power could be, the rules of this kingdom, the customs, how to act, thinking about this just made me feel faint again.

I quickly realized as Chanyeol turned down another street, I had no idea where I was going. “Chanyeol by any chance do you have a map?”

He shook his head and was about to say something, as a kid nearly ran into him. The kid was being chased by these men in grey uniforms, like the uniforms that guards outside wore.

“The Grey Wardens, move!” Someone shouted as everyone started to go to the edge of the street.

Chanyeol grabbed my bad shoulder and pulled me to the front of the butchers, I shouted at him for touching my shoulder and he shrugged.

“You should really get that checked out, when we get time I will take you to the hospital.” He said still looking at the guards, on the guards left breast was a wolf symbol in black and red. I never needed to ask Chanyeol what their power was, as three of the seven men ran forward in perfect sink and transformed into wolves.

Out of all the amazement I could only say, “Wow,” with a breath. When the other guards left, Chanyeol and I made our way back down the street. More I looked around, the more I saw the guard’s wolf symbol displayed everywhere, on the sides of people’s houses, market stall roofs, in the lefts of windows or doors.

“What’s so special about the wolf?” I asked Chanyeol as we passed what looked like a church. “The symbol is everywhere.”

We made a right down a street which had an Inn called “ _The Lone Wolf,”_ where our dirt path turned into a cobble walk way. “It’s the King’s power symbol, he can turn into a wolf,” we kept walking and this time when Chanyeol spoke it was in a whisper. “It is said that the king use to be able to shape shift into anything but when he was out on petrol once, he was shot with a poisoned arrow, and now he can only change into a wolf.”

Surprisingly we walked in silence until we reached a row of houses where Chanyeol lived. “Since some people might find it hard to believe that you’re not from around here, you know the magic thing. Say that you are from a town called Weliian, it’s a small town just west of that hill you landed on. Not many people have heard of it, but it is known that people can be born there with magic and migrate here. I hear their rules and customs are very different than ours, plus they are also allies of ours.”

He stopped in front of the only house that had a flat metal roof where the others had thatched, other than that the house wasn’t much different than the others around. The house was painted black and white and looked about two stories, this house also had an outward facing deck. On the deck sat a woman with black curly hair with little grey hairs, she was reading a book called _Hearing, can you enhance it?_

Chanyeol lent down to me and whispered, “Mother thinks she can enhance her hearing but really she is as deaf as a bat.”

I was going to say to him about bat’s echolocation, but his mother go the point across as she shouted, “I may not have my hearing enhanced, but I have enhanced eyesight and my lip reading is very good.”

She scowled and raised an eyebrow at Chanyeol as he walked up the stairs with his shoulders hunched. Her scowl was gone when she made eye contact with me and smiled, she had the same smile as Chanyeol, big and toothy.

“Channie who’s this?” She asked standing out of her rocking chair. She dusted off her apron and stood beside Chanyeol, she was a good foot smaller than him; more around my height. The clothes she wore reminded me of the ones in my brother’s picture book, _King Arthur: The sword in the stone._

“Hello, my name is Kyungsoo,” I said bowing at the hip. Chanyeol’s mother started laughing, not in a mean way, a motherly way. Sort of like when a child brings home a painting from school and the parents stick it on the fridge that was the feeling it brought me.

“Kyungsoo there is no need to bow to me, I am no queen nor do I want to be. My name is Jangmi.” I smiled feeling my cheeks warm up, “How about you come in for supper?” My stomach replied before I had a chance to, and we quickly walked in.

We walked straight into the kitchen, where a girl about sixteen or seventeen sat at a small, circle wooden table. She was clutching a letter so hard I was scared she might rip it.

“Please mother can I go!” Chanyeol’s sister ran up to her mother holding the letter, “Please can I go to the ball?”

“Who’s the letter from sweetie?”

“Who else do you think?” She said with such an obvious tone, I sort of felt bad that I didn’t know. “It’s Prince Jongdae’s 18th masked birthday ball in a couple of days! This is the year where the King is going to choose the best suitors for him and I am almost positive this party will play a part.”

_He’s only half a year older than me._

Chanyeol started to laugh and his mom shot him a look, he started to settle down but said, “Why would a _prince_ like Jongdae choose you?” Chanyeol’s sister slapped him across the shoulder and Mrs. Jang-mi sighed, “All I meant was, we don’t have much to give to the King’s family. He is most likely going to choose a man or woman that will help the throne.”

Before Chanyeol’s sister could hit Chanyeol again, Mrs. Jang-mi stepped in saying, “You can go Nari, but don’t get your hopes up.” Nari ran up to her mother and gripped her mother so tight I thought she might explode. “On one condition,” Nari’s grip stated to loosen on her mother and her smile started to falter.

“Chanyeol must go with you,”

\---

Supper at the Park house wasn’t any different than dinner at my own home, well maybe, the food was very different. Mrs. Park had made this delicious meal, it was grey in color and had the texture of porridge, and this was not sarcasm. This food was what Mrs. Park called “ _Fixer Food,”_ once when she was at the market, she came across this grey fruit which would taste like the food you desired. This managed to help Nari and her power and Chanyeol’s eating habits. Nari has enhanced taste, she said that when eating any other food she can taste everything, from the little speck of dirt on lettuce to the smallest sesame seeds on a bun. I would never think that having enhanced taste would be beneficial, and Nari’s attitude towards her power seemed to be the same opinion as mine.

My fixer food didn’t taste of my mum’s homemade cookies or grandma’s roast dinner, it tasted of pancakes. The experience eating this was very unique, fixer food’s texture was horrible but the taste was great.

Chanyeol somehow bargained with his mum to let me stay at their house, stating it was unfair for him to attend the ‘ _Superior Son’s Ball.’_ This caused Nari to throw her food at him and Mrs. Park telling him to speak about the Prince with respect, especially with guests around. Chanyeol just grunted and went back to devouring his food.

I was to sleep on the floor of Chanyeol’s room on a type of blow up mattress, Mrs. Park also said I could stay as long as I wanted since I had nowhere else to go; but needed to help with the chore work. This seemed unfair to Mrs. Park, I felt as if I should do more than chore work. Chanyeol managed to get away with the small lie on where I lived and I making up facts about Weliian, basing it off of Camelot.

When the sun started to set I made my way to the outside porch and leaned against the wooden railings. To my right was the church and on one of the steeples was a clock which read 8:40, to my left I could hear the faint murmur of music from the restaurant down the street. With everything that I have seen about Seani, it is a perfect mix of Medieval and Modern.

Behind me there was the squeak of the door and Nari walked out, she had changed her attire into a plain beige dress with her mother’s apron tied on her hips. She stood beside me and I realized she was a good inch taller than me, she was holding a colorful bit of paper.

Nari gave me the paper saying, “Chanyeol mentioned that you wanted a map so you could get around. This isn’t a new map but it still has the main attributes to Seani like the castle and the church.”

“Thank you,” I said giving her a smile. The map did as a map should do, it had the main street that Chanyeol and I walked down earlier; the church; a market; a big box that was called “K.G.P”; and other resources.

Nari smiled back at me and walked down the steps, she made left towards the tavern and I watched until she entered the building. Hopefully not in a creepy way, more in a big brother way. Sighing I maneuvered my way back into the house to find Mrs. Park to wish her a good night, but I couldn’t find her, so I made my way upstairs into Chanyeol’s room.

Unlike Chanyeol’s characteristically free nature, his room was very neat and sorted, there was a bookshelf in the back corner next to his small cot where his books were sorted alphabetically. When I walked in he was pushing his desk in front of his bookshelf to make room for my mattress, I offered to help him but he told me to sit on his bed.

Once he finished he smiled at me with what now I can call a ‘ _Park Smile’_ I knew I was going to see some magic. Chanyeol pulled out a small wooden box from under his bed and placed it on the floor.

“Are you ready?” He said looking very excited, I couldn’t really say no to him since I did want to sleep tonight.

Chanyeol pressed the side of the box and a little hole popped out, he pressed his mouth to it and breathed out. The mattress gave three beeps as Chanyeol moved away sitting next to me on his bed, the fourth beep was much longer and louder and then the box started to unfold. When the mattress completely unfolded it was the same size as Chanyeol’s bed, it was even dressed with sheets.

“Go on,” Chanyeol said smiling, “Go sit on it!”

I did so, the bed was comfy and very soft and when my head hit the pillow I felt at home. Turning to sit up to Chanyeol, I asked him about what he said at supper. “Why do you not like Prince Jongdae?” Chanyeol stopped what he was doing and looked over at me.

“It’s hard to explain little Soo.” I raised an eye brow at the _little_ comment, I wasn’t short; it was just Chanyeol was very tall. “You see there is a difference with not liking someone and thinking they are a snob. I guess he’s nice and all, but he’s just ... I don’t know how to explain.” He let out a breath whilst shaking his head.

“My father,” Chanyeol started, “use to work at the castle to keep the lights lit, you know the fire thing. I always wanted to see the castle, so when I started experiencing my fire magic he took me. On this particular day the King was walking through the area that my father worked at. I was just sitting on a stool reading _Fire: You control it, not it control you,_ when the King walked up to my father asking if I would want to meet his sons,” he paused for a moment then quickly carried on.

“My father agreed and a maid took me to the royal play room, in the room was Jongdae and Jongin, his younger brother. We played fine together until the maid left, very time Jongdae touched me he sent a bolt of electricity into my body, and let me tell you how weird that feeling is,” pointing a finger at me, “I asked him many times to stop but he just laughed and kept doing it.”

It was a mistake to chuckle, Chanyeol glared at me so I said, “You really don’t like the eldest King’s son because he zapped you with electricity, when you asked him to stop.”

“No let me finish the story!” He huffed but I could see the pull on Chanyeol’s lips to smile. “The last time Jongdae tried to do that again, I accidently pushed him over. Long story short, the maid walked in and said to the King I abused the Prince, some shit like that. This caused my dad to get fired and now he has to light the lights around the houses in the market area.”

“I don’t think you can base an opinion on someone who you met like ten years ago! It seems un-rational especially when it was also sort of your fault.” Chanyeol threw a cloth shirt at me and gave me a look to say that this conversation was finished.

As Chanyeol started to strip, I turned around and faced the wall and I pulled the shirt I was wearing over my head and placed it to the floor. When I was about to put the other shirt back on, there was someone’s hands on my bad shoulder, I tried to move away in pain but Chanyeol had strong hands. I wasn’t uncomfortable with Chanyeol being _incredibly_ close to me, it was his hand placement that bothered me, and I mean he has seen me completely nude.

“What are you doing?” I shouted gripping my shoulder causing the other shirt to fall to the floor. “That’s that bad shoulder!”

“Your shoulder, it has a power symbol on it.” Chanyeol stated as if he didn’t hear my resentful outburst, he made his way to the desk and picked up two mirrors. “I have never seen this sigil before.”

Chanyeol gave me a mirror and held his up so I could see my shoulder, “Is that a good or a bad thing, the fact you haven’t seen this symbol before?” This symbol had these two hearts being intertwined with a diamond and looked Celtic. It was the size of half a sheet of paper and was wrapped from the front of my shoulder to the back.

“This is defiantly a thing, good or bad I can’t tell.” He hummed and sat back on his bed, quietly letting me change. His shirt hung down to the middle of my thigh so when I took of my pants and crawled into bed, I didn’t feel too self-conscious.

“Hey Soo?” I mumbled something to let him know I was still awake, “I think I might know someone who can help, hopefully we can see her tomorrow.”

I had no strength left in me to reply with words, so I just made a sound to acknowledge what I heard, and quickly I fell into a deep sleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author Notes
> 
> Kate: So this is a small filler chapter since if this chapter and the next one combined, it would be very long, which means that another chapter could be happing next week.
> 
> Emily: Since this week is half term, Kate and I will hopefully write a lot more. However we both have really important exams coming up this month so we should be revising.


	4. A Call to Arms

_**D.O / Kyungsoo** _

\-----

At the crack of dawn I was being shaken awake, I groaned trying to get Chanyeol’s hand off me, so I tried slapping his arm and when I did, his arm was much smaller than yesterday’s. I turned over to my back and opened my eyes, standing above me was Nari. She moved her hand off my arm and moved to Chanyeol, instead of shaking him awake, she grabbed a pillow which fell on the floor and hit Chanyeol with it.  He woke up instantly and Nari ran out of the room calling, “They’re awake mother!”

I sat up noticing that Chanyeol fell back onto his bed. “You can use the bathroom first, it’s the door across the hallway,” he said with his eyes closed. “We are leaving in an hour.”

The ground was cold as I got out of bed, I walked over to the door noticing two piles of clothes each had a little bit of paper on it. One had the letter _C_ and the other _K,_ I grabbed the K pile and walked straight into the bathroom.

Medieval bathrooms in story books were not like Chanyeol’s bathroom, for instance most homes don’t have a bathroom they would have had a chamber pot; not the Parks. Their bathroom looked almost like a normal bathroom on Earth, except this was wooden. After I got changed, I made my way downstairs to the kitchen.

Downstairs at the table there were four heads: Chanyeol, Nari, Jangmi and a man I hadn’t seen before. I came down the stairs and the man stood up, he turned around to face me. He looked almost exactly like Chanyeol, except older and with a cooler eye color, an orange amber. Chanyeol’s father extended a hand to me and I took it, he shook my hand hard and smiled.

“Good grip this man, my name is Hyungseok” He said making his way back over to the table, he pulled up an extra chair and beckoned me to sit. “Kyungsoo I have heard a little bit about you, you’re from Weliian correct? What’s it like there, I have always wanted to go.”

I struggled trying to find a good description to base it from, Chanyeol saw my struggle and quickly stepped in, “Father Kyungsoo wanted to get away from there, and I don’t think we should pressure him to talking about it.”

“Of course Chan,” His father said smiling. “I apologies Kyungsoo, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Trying not to laugh, I nodded looking over to _Chan_ hoping he would understand how awkward this was; he did. He stood up and declared, “Father, Soo and I are going to sign up for the Kings Guard.” Nari started to laugh, Hyungseok stood up, poor Jangmi chocked on her fixer food and I just glared at him.

Hyungseok walked over to Chanyeol and placed a hand on his shoulder, “Are you sure you want to do this? You know once you get into the Kings Guard, you can’t live at home” Chanyeol nodded and his father sighed. “Fine go on, you’re nearly 18 anyway, you should be moving out soon.”

All I said was goodbye as Chanyeol grabbed my collar and walked out of the house.

\---

Chanyeol, still holding my collar, dragged me down the cobble stone street towards the tavern. Only when we turned the corner and his house was out of view; did Chan let go.  When he let go, I turned around to face him but he already started moving down the street towards a large wall. I started to jog up to him shouting his name, this time unlike in the woods, he turned around to face me.

“Come on Soo. Hurry up,” He shouted back at me, I rolled my eyes and caught up with him. “I don’t want to be late for this.”

Chan and I moved over to the left hand side of the pathway before a carriage could run us over. “Chan, I don’t understand why you need to bring _me_ along with you. I have barely been here a day and you expect me to be able to join a knights guard?”  

He thought for a moment, we turned down a street which lead into a wider busier street. “This is a great way for you to see the Kingdom. Besides after the little boot camp today, I can take you to someone who can look at your shoulder.”

“Fine,” I grumbled as we picked up pace to weave ourselves in and out of people.

The streets today where very crowded, making it incredibly hard to keep up with Chan. Almost everyone was in the streets promoting their shops or powers, there was one stall where an elderly lady was playing with clay; making her clay animals walk around atop of the desks. But there was some _normal_ type shops, there was a book sellers, black smiths and a bank.

Chanyeol pointed to a large grey wall that towered almost above all the buildings on its outside. “That Kyungsoo, is the Knight’s Training Ground.”

We moved towards the wall dodging the passers coming by. Around me were people dressed in the army uniform, except the capes had a different color. Chan quickly explained to me that the two army regiment uniforms we saw yesterday, were designed towards that particular regiment. Since if you had to transform into a wolf at least every day, the chains would bring much more weight than they needed.

“So what uniform are you hoping to get?” I asked as we got into a thicker crowd.

Chanyeol answered me when we escaped the crowd that was forming around a teen boy and a girl, whom seemed to be throwing remarks back and forth between each other. “The Royal Blue Regiment, this regiment doesn’t rely strictly on your magic ability, unlike the others.”

I was about to ask Chan some more questions but a kid _flew_ into Chanyeol. The kid bounced off of Chanyeol, colliding with the floor, he stared upwards at him then his eyes flickered to me. Chanyeol extended his arm to the boy, as the boy was half way to standing, Chanyeol let out a boisterous laugh as Chanyeol’s friend fell to the floor.

“Goddamn it Sehun,” Chanyeol said still laughing, I couldn’t help but smile as the boy rolled his eyes.

The boy, Sehun sighed, “Your fucking bitch Chanyeol.”

However my smile slipped away as Sehun righted himself into an upward stance with a gust of wind, which carried down the street rustling the roof tops of the house nearby. As I looked around, there was a group of girls by a shop laughing _cutely_ about what just happen.

Still laughing, Chanyeol put his hand on Sehun’s shoulder. “I love you too Sehun.”

Sehun just groaned and shook Chanyeol of his shoulder. As Sehun started to walk away he held one of his hands in the air, signifying an obscene gesture. Chanyeol titled his head in confusion has the rainbow haired boy walked into the crowd. Chanyeol grabbed the collar of my shirt and started dragging me away towards the large, stone barracks. He started to run towards the wooden door that had intricate designs carved into it.

“Hurry up,” Chanyeol shouted letting go of my collar. “We are going to be late.”

 

** _Baekhyun_ **

The training grounds were enclosed by high, brick walls that, so early in the morning, caused long shadows to be cast across the dusty ground. The city was only just beginning to awake, and I listened to the distant sound of school children as I scuffed the ground with my boot. My eyes wandered around the training area; to my left, the stone wall of the barracks was old but strong, minimally detailed which just a door providing a way in. In the opposite corner, to my right, a small wooden structure served as an armoury and would soon be opened and pillaged for weapons to be used for today’s examination. I was unable to look at the shed for too long, otherwise my stomach would turn in on itself and the onset of nausea that had plagued me the weeks before this examination before would creep back in and settle into my abdomen.

A sharp squeal brought my attention back to the present and I raised my eyes to the gate in front of me, or more importantly, the crowd of children gathered around the wide opening. They were unable to enter, of course, a mixture of metal bars and ward magic keeping them out, but that didn’t deter them from gawking around the area and at the people inside. My throat prickled with nerves because that had been some eight years ago, gawking in at the few hopeful initiates, and now I was on the other side of the gate.

From behind me, a loud creak of metal hinges echoed out across the grounds, and I turned to see the King’s Guard, or Kim Minseok, walk swiftly across the dirt towards us, closely followed by Kim Junmyeon, his second-in-command. The great wooden door thudded shut behind them, but my eyes caught on the former’s face, stoic and solemn despite his youth, and as he approached his eyes rapidly flickered from face to face until he came to a stop with his eyes on me. He stood in full armour, plated silver metal framing his broad shoulders and wide stance, although his form was hidden by a lengthy blue cape that fell down to his ankles. Navy was his colour, just like the royal blue would be my colour when I passed the examination and became a recruit.

“Good morning, initiates.” He began, rocking back and forth on his feet. “My name is Kim Minseok, but you will refer to me as Commander Xiumin, regardless of whether you are in my presence, giving a report or bitching about me behind my back.” There were a few exhales of laughter at his words, but his eyes stayed serious. “You are here this morning to undergo an exam in the hopes of passing and becoming a recruit of the Blue Regiment. ‘What is the Blue Regiment?’ I hear the few stupid ones among you ask the person next to you, well…”

His voice drifted off into a murmur, just as his eyes narrowed and his partner, Commander Suho, looked to the door as a raised voice behind it became obvious.

“No, we got stuck behind a horse, you heaving lump of… No, I won’t ‘leave quietly’ unless it’s through that door behind you.” The voice was deep and resonated through the wooden door with astounding quality, so much so that I recognised who it belonged to long before the door was heaved open and Park Chanyeol slipped through the gap. He was followed by a shorter boy who I failed to recognise, with dark hair long enough to cover his eyes, who was left a step behind as Chanyeol bounded over to join the line of recruits. The wide grin that split his face open was infuriating, and instead of rolling my eyes, I looked back to the front and ignored the younger’s attempt at eye contact.

Park Chanyeol’s mother and mine had been childhood friends, close from such a young age due to their similar power of enhanced sight, and their frequent dinner dates and house visits had caused Chanyeol and I to see each other enough for it to be impossible not to form a friendship, of sorts. But we had grown further apart with age, and as I became interested in the military, Chanyeol had failed to keep up. Until today.

“After this interruption, I’m not going to repeat myself and continue with my explanation.” With an unhindered glare at the newcomers, Commander Xiumin took a deep inhale and launched into speech. “You are here today with the hope of eventually becoming a knight of the Blue Regiment. What this means for you is that you possess some form of magic, and it matters little whether its band one or band five; what really matters is that you can wield a sword alongside your power, and you can do so forcefully.

“If the lack of magical skill required for this position is worrying you, then I suggest you approach the Gold Regiment’s Commander. On the other hand, if it’s your swordsmanship you excel at then the Red Regiment’s initiation is next week. Lastly, I warn you, if you’re magic is that of sensory enhancement or shapeshifting, you’re no use to me, so enrol into the Warden Scheme and leave me alone.” The Commander nodded to himself with a sigh, took half a step back and gestured for Commander Suho to take his place.

It was well known that Kim Junmyeon had trained within the Knightsguard for seven years, and this fact wasn’t lost as he reminded anyone and everyone who would listen of this fact. His years of training were written in the scars that patterned his skin, as well as the way he held himself tall and with innate authority.

“Right, can Nicolai Zoldak please state his band status and address.” He smiled at the boy that shakily raised his hand. “Please step forward.”

 

_**D.O / Kyungsoo** _

 

After Commander Xiumin came around with the wrapped piece of paper, he told us to leave and to start work tomorrow. Chanyeol couldn’t contain his excitement as _skipped_ towards the market square, clutching his scroll. I however wasn’t as thrilled as Chanyeol.

“I can’t believe it Soo! I, Park Chanyeol, will be part of the Royal Blue Regiment,” Chanyeol exclaimed passing me his letter. “I get to live in the King’s Guard Pavilion, train with the other regiments and Guard the King. It is going to be amazing training with not just the Golden Regiment but with the Grey Wardens and finally learning how to control my magic.”

I smiled reading his letter before saying, “That sounds great Chanyeol.”

“Soo what is the matter with you? You’ve barely uttered a word since we’ve left, not that you normally talk a lot, but-”

“I have been given the job as a maid.” I looked over to Chanyeol who stopped walking and cocked his head.

“For who?”

I lowered my voice before speaking, “One of the Princes. I haven’t been told which one due to the safety issue. The castle is inspecting me tomorrow.” I gave Chanyeol my scroll and he read through it briskly.

He looked up at me with a big smile saying, “That’s great Soo! Is that why Xiumin called you aside.”

“ _Commander_ Xiumin,” I muttered, but Chanyeol did not seem to hear me. “Yes it is why.”

 

_We were doing sword drills and I was paired with a man called Nikolai, whom was frankly very good at swordsman ship. Nikolai caused me to fall down a couple of times due to his massive size and strength, however he wasn’t a brute and did try to help me learn how to master a sword; but that was a hopeless cause. He also wished me luck and waved to me, as Commander Xiumin called me over to speak with him._

_“Your name is Kyungsoo, correct?” Commander Xiumin asked as we both walked into the shaded area of the arena, away from everyone else._

_“Yes Sir,” I said. Once I realized my mistake, Commander Xiumin smiled and slightly chuckled, placing a hand on my shoulder._

_Before Commander Xiumin started to talk again, there was a loud crash and a yell from Commander Suho. Commander Xiumin rolled his eyes and began talking, “Kyungsoo, I have a couple of questions to ask you. Would you be alright with that?”_

_I nodded and answered his questions as honestly as I could. He asked questions from the range of, “What are your sleeping habits,” to “If you actually wanted to be here.” For the last question, I told him no and how Chanyeol_ dragged _me to come with him and how I felt like a burden on the Park Family if I didn’t find a job quickly. Throughout the entire question process, Commander Xiumin nodded and just listened to what I had to say. I could tell he was analyzing me, for what, at the time, I didn’t know._

_“I got to say Kyungsoo, you sure are different.” Commander Xiumin commented as we made our way back to the crowd of people, now working on archery. “You seem to respect your elders to an extent which I haven’t seen before, you are smart and if I may be frank ...” He waited for my nod before carrying on, “A fighting life, doesn’t seem like you. I am giving you a letter of recommendation to give to the castle tomorrow to be a maid. Don’t let the job name put you off. The job gives you food, shelter, and a reasonably decent pay.”_

_Commander Xiumin gave me the scroll and walked ahead to Commander Suho, to give out the remaining scrolls._

Chanyeol and I continued towards the street that would lead us to the market. We talked about how we would try and see each other, whether it be around the castle or the training grounds. He said all these things, assuming I would get into the castle and serve as a maid.

The walk was short as we made our way through the town. We stopped outside of an apothecary that had a mystical aura that seemed to bubble the area. The exterior of the apothecary was a rusted brown which had signs in the window which I could not read. From the outside I could see an array of books that seemed to be thrown down anywhere.  However the creepiness was diluted with the bushes of pansies that greeted me, as Chanyeol and I stepped into the shop. Like how I expected, the shop was in utter chaos where books had been thrown everywhere, scrolls sprawled across the counter tops and the dusty jars filled with plant and animal remains.

There was a rustling in the corner and a girl around the same age as me appeared. She had golden skin and amber eyes, which scanned the shop. Once she saw Chanyeol and me, her smile brightened as she jumped over some boxes and ran and gave Chanyeol a hug.

Neither of them let go until the woman said, “Chanyeol it’s been ages, you need to come around more often. Mama, come out front. Chanyeol is back.” Chanyeol just awkwardly smiled and itched the back of his neck, as a woman in a wheel chair wheeled herself out from the back. She had the same smile as the younger child next to her but fairer skin and greyer hair.

“Chanyeol honey, it’s so good to see you,” The woman raised her arms to him, and Chanyeol reached down and gave her a hug. “Who’s this Chanyeol? He’s cute.”

I laughed quietly as I said my name, extending my arm to her. She took it and told me her name, Mia, and the girl whom hugged Chanyeol was Daria. “So Chanyeol, what do you need?”

“Well Mia, it’s not me who needs the help, it’s him,” Chanyeol said pointing over to me. “He has some weird mark on his shoulder that neither of us recognize. We, _I,_ thought that you might know what it is and what it could lead to.”

“Anything for you dear. Now Kyungsoo please take off your t-shirt so I can see this mark of yours.” Like Mia asked of me, I turned around and stripped my top off. Everyone was quiet, until I heard footsteps approaching me.

There was the calming voice of Daria getting louder as she got closer to me saying, “This might sting a bit, but mama can’t really see this mark.” Daria placed a fabric onto my shoulder, then applied a liquid solution. My mark did sting, but Daria’s touch on my other shoulder made me feel warm inside.

“I forgot to mention Kyungsoo but Daria is a healer.” Mia said as Daria took off the fabric and gave it to her mother.

I turned around to find Mia looking at the mark with tears in her eyes. I glanced over to Chanyeol who seemed to be just as confused as I was. It wasn’t until Daria asked if her mother was okay, did Mia say anything.

“I’m fine Daria, it’s just the mark,” We all looked at her with confusion. “The mark isn’t just a claiming mark, it’s mixed with a soul mate mark.”

 

\---

 

** _AUTHOR NOTES_ **

**_Chogi -_** Hi, sorry this took a while to come up, both Wae and I are have been very busy with exams at the moment but we have both finished them! Expect more writing soon since we have FINALLY created a plan of action. Bye xxx

_**Wae**_ _-_ Whattup, my dudes. I'm so sorry it took me 2 months to write the minuscule chapter in the middle of this mess that, let's be honest, is a little crappy around the edges. Nevertheless, to make it up to my short friend, I have promised to write the entire following chapter that I assure contains significant amounts of fluff and shipping, cause I am SuChen trash. Also expect some Kaisoo my dudes, and remember to keep it real. By subscribing. I'm out. 

 

 

 


	5. Beauty at Dawn

_**Suho / Junmyeon** _

Kyungsoo, dressed up in the uniform of the royal staff, had his shoulders hunched and head lowered as we ascended the steps of the castle. After collecting him earlier that morning from Chanyeol’s, which had involved a lot of fussing and many cups of unwanted tea off his mother, we had taken a shortcut passed the tavern to reach the castle in time. As we approached the great structure, white walls catching the early morning sunlight, I explained to him the duties and responsibilities of the job he was to be elected.

“You’re to be hand servant to Prince Jongdae, the eldest son of His Majesty The King, thus he is to take his father’s place when the time comes. Because of this, it is important that you obey his command swiftly and cause him little trouble. Come when he calls. Clean his room. Retrieve his meals.” I paused my explanation to reach across the boy and open the door to the West Wing. “The castle may seem large at first but you’ll soon feel at home. Down those steps is the kitchen, and along here is where all the royal staff sleep, including yourself.”

I paused in front of the final wooden door of the hallway, waiting for Kyungsoo to take station by my side before producing a key from my pocket and handing it to the attentive boy. He eyed the key, raising an eyebrow before plucking it from my fingers and stepping forward to unlock the door.

The room was small and a little dusty, although it was no doubt an improvement from the Park family’s accommodation. A sunken bed sat in the centre of the room, and light from a small window above lit up the mess of sheets and pillows that covered it. To the side, a wooden writing desk and wardrobe had been pushed against the wall, and opposite, a bookcase was littered with tomes and scriptures. I turned to watch Kyungsoo’s impression of his living space, which he seemed to accept with a small nod. He pocketed the key and closed the door with a decisive thud.

When Xiumin had spoken of his decision to employ Kyungsoo as a maid the night before, over a dinner of bread and stew, it had taken me a moment to recall the boy’s face to my mind, as he had failed to make an impression more impressive than ‘mediocre’. He had no apparent magical power and had flinched at every clang of sword against sword. However, as I walked him up yet another flight of steps, explaining to him the routine of a servant, he absorbed the information silently and observed everything around him with wide eyes, like a child.

By the time we reached Jongdae’s room, the sun had risen to the top of the sky and I would need to leave quickly if I were to reach Minseok for noon training.

Smiling, I stepped passed Kyungsoo to place two steady knocks on the door. The sound echoed off the stone walls around us and I had no right to feel excited about the sound of approaching footsteps.

The door opened and Jongdae’s face was peeking through the gap, head tilted and resting on the door frame. His eyes were glued to Kyungsoo, face painted in confusion, and I was moments from jumping into an explanation before he looked to me and a smirk broke through his princely scowl, eyes glinting distractedly as he let the door fall open completely and beckoned us in. With a hand on Kyungsoo’s shoulder, I encouraged him to enter, ignoring the sense that we were entering the lion’s den.

The door slammed behind us.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Jongdae asked airily, waltzing passed us both to resume his seat at the dining table. The surface was laden with fruits and meat, and the Prince picked at a chunk of bread as he continued. “Come on now, you never normally come visit me in full uniform, Junmyeon.”

My mouth was dry, but I stumbled over an explanation anyway, because Jongdae’s eyes were narrowed and expectant. “Um, Min… Commander Xiumin has found a hand servant for you.” I reached blindly behind me and dragged the youngest forward to stand between us. “This is Kyungsoo. He’s wonderful.”

Jongdae nodded. “I’m sure he is.”

 

 

**_ Chanyeol _ **

After Suho came to pick Kyungsoo up from my house, I quickly said goodbye to my family and walked towards the King’s Guard Pavilion. I kept re-reminding myself of what Commander Junmyeon had said to me before he left with Kyungsoo.

_“Pack light,” Junmyeon had said quietly as he was hunched over the banister of our porch. “You might have gotten into the Royal Blue Regiment, but you need to create trust between your room mates. From experience, most people don’t like a snob who brings everything with them.”_

_“Yes Commander. If I may say,” I paused waiting for his response, he nodded signifying that I could continue. “I don’t think I live in a place where I could be a snob about what I own.”_

_Commander Suho laughed and patted my shoulder and walked inside for another tea._

I was brought back to reality when someone grabbed my wrist and pulled me back onto the pavement as a stray horse ran past. They muttered something about watching where I was going as they walked on a head.

“Chanyeol!” I heard a female shout and I looked behind me to find Daria walking up to me, she carried a satchel bag on her shoulder. “Are you okay? That horse nearly ran you over.”

 Daria linked her arm with mine as we continued down the street, “I am fine, thank you for asking. Where are you off too? That dress seems much too fancy for the market.”

We both continued with the small talk until we reached the gate of the Kings Guard Pavilion. Daria wished me well as she carried on her way to the market. The gate was guarded by two females dressed in red armor, with one look from them I felt my voice turn quiet as I asked “Please may you open the gates?”

I gave the smaller woman my letter from Commander Xiumin, she scoffed eyeing me up and down before giving a whistle. The iron gates opened and I proceeded forwards, hearing a good luck, from the other guard.

Inside the walls held a large mass amount of buildings two stories tall, which had ivy growing along the side of the houses. Many of the rooms had things dangling outside of their windows or had their windows wide open, admitting more sound to the bustle of commotion I found myself in. Many people were walking back and forth in colored tunics and black trousers, having various types of metal strapped to their bodies. With the riptide of people, I got carried around the houses towards a smaller section of the court yard, where there were stalls and various activities going on.

Quickly I found a stall which read, “ _Newbies, Come here or you will die_.” Even though the sign was ominous, the male working the stall didn’t live up to that. I tried to overhear what this line was for, but all I got were about rooms. Once I made it to the front of the line and had registered, the man gave me a key and sent me on my way.

To find my room, I had to ask a great deal of people for directions until a girl in a green tunic escorted me to the correct room. There was a bright light as I entered the room, and once my eyes adjusted from the dim light in the corridor, I could see out of the three large windows at the end of the room. The masses in the room turned quiet as I entered, they looked up from their various activities and one boy pulled me further into the room. His hands were cold on my wrist as he dragged me to the middle of the room. He turned around and tilted his head to the side as if he was inspecting a horse, walking around me then flashing me a look with his red eyes saying, “He will do.”

The rest of the bodies cheered and either clasped my shoulder or shook my hand, my grin grew as I looked at the six beds situated in a circle around me, feeling as if I had finally belonged somewhere. In the North East corner of the room was a bed with Royal Blue tunics, armor and shoes neatly folded at the foot of the bed. These were placed on top of the corresponding blue bedding which had my name sewn into it. I placed my bag on the bed and sat down firmly, causing the bed to squeak. To the right of me there was a bed free but had grey bedding which hung off the edge of the bed. The person’s containers under their bed were full with clothes that had been thrown in chaotically.

“Alistair can’t give two shits about how neat he is,” A girl said from, the other side of the boy, Alistair’s, bed. She was sharpening a sword with a smile on her face. This girl was dressed in a red tunic which was rolled up at the sleeves which displayed various white scars and bruises on her dark skin.

“That is probably due to his _free nature,_ ” The small boy who pulled me in to the room said, copying the girls smile. The other girl clearly agreed, since she threw her head back and a loud sharp laugh escaped her.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I turned my head to face a girl on the bed opposite. She was dressed in a golden tunic which hugged her chest and let her auburn hair fall forward, as she leaned over her knees to me. This girl was pale but had striking green eyes which resembled the fern that grew in my mother’s garden.

“You seem a bit confused,” She stated, looking over to the other four bodies in the room. “My name’s Isa Bell.”

“Park Chanyeol,” I said back holding out my hand for her to grab, she looked down to the hand then back at me and chuckled. “I’m not confused, just slightly overwhelmed. I’ve just been put into a room with four other warriors and I am going to be living here for a while, so I guess I am a bit out of it.”

Isa laughed again, I liked her laugh it wasn’t as loud or annoying as mine and didn’t turn people away; rather it pulled people in. “Sorry to burst your bubble Chanyeol, but none of us are warriors. The only one in this room that could be defined as a warrior is Alistair.”

“Speak for yourself,” The red tunic said standing up walking over to Isa. “I’m Kyra. Kyra Giddings, been serving the Red Regiment for nearly three years.”

Kyra walked around the room introducing everyone to me, she started off with the bed next to hers, which held the cold boy who was named Fynn Wang. He sent me a smile and a wave, then pulled out a green jumper which seemed faded in areas, his black shaggy hair fell in front of his face as he rummaged for new clothes. Kyra then pointed to a girl reading a book, who didn’t take much notice of me or Kyra. Her name was Pip and part of the Grey Wardens. Her bed was next to Isa’s and had two piles of books, resting at the foot of her bed.

Isa, Kyra and I started small talk about each of the regiments. Well, it was mainly me asking about those regiments. I discovered through Isa, that each regiment had an initiating ceremony where you had to advertise your power or chosen skill. For the Red Regiment, due to their desire for you to be able to weld a weapon, Kyra chose dagger throwing as her specialty. She said how she was born with a power that would link with precision of some sort. For Isa she used her earth magic to imprison a large group of people.

“Could you guys be any louder?” Fynn said picking up a book from the pile near Pip’s bed.

Kyra quickly retorted back with, “Could you be any less annoying?”

Fynn chuckled and tipped his book towards her, before pausing and saying, “Someone’s coming. They seem small but really heavy.”

I looked over curiously to Isa who mouthed, _Enhanced hearing_. The door opened and walked in Baekhyun carrying a box filled with books that nearly were overflowing. He quietly said hello and made his way to the bed diagonally opposite to mine, and between Fynn’s and Pip’s. Baekhyun put his box down and seated himself in the middle of his bed and started to unpack his books.

“Oh for fuck’s sake, not another one!” Kyra exclaimed falling down onto her bed, “This room is going to turn into a Library.”

The room chuckled at Kyra’s remark, I looked across to Baekhyun and gave him a reassuring smile which he reluctantly replicated. 

“Just because you’re to, well stupid, doesn’t mean you need to flaunt that around at our expense,” Pip said not looking up from her book. Kyra gave a foxy smile towards Baekhyun who raised his eyebrows and quickly looked down at his bag.

There was a loud deep echoing horn sounding off in the distance, the four elder soldiers groaned and quickly got up from their beds pulling out their gear. Isa and Kyra shared a look before getting up and Isa nudged me, “That’s the bell that tells you that you have ten minutes to get to your first activity. Don’t look so scared, you won’t have any activities until tomorrow, Commander Xiumin will give you your time table tonight at dinner.” 

I nodded and looked over to Baekhyun who had made himself quite at home, falling back onto his bed letting his caramel fridge fall over his eyes as he adopted Pip’s reading position. The group of four left the room fully dressed in armor and with their capes flowing, which caused Baekhyun and me to be the only ones in the room.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, I asked, “What book are you reading?” He didn’t directly answer me, just hold up the cover and still not taking his eyes off the page. I was about to ask another question, but Baekhyun finally looked up from his book and gave me a stare. With his playful eyes piercing through me, I retreated back into my bed and decided to sort my bag into the compartments below my bed.

There was a sigh which escaped Baekhyun’s lips, I heard some footsteps and a book was pushed under my nose, _How to Survive the Five Regiments: Volume 2, The Royal Blue Regiments._

“Stop looking so sorry for yourself,” Baekhyun said sitting back down at his bed. I looked up at Baekhyun and gave him a sheepish smile, which he somewhat copied as he looked back into his book.

** _D.O / Kyungsoo_ **

__

 

I had stopped some steps away from Prince Jongdae’s chambers. I had paused mid-step to stand in front of the open doorway of his brother’s room.

Through the gap, I could see that the space was brighter than the room neighbouring it, with two windows facing the west letting in the orange glow of sunset. The chamber must have continued far out of the reach of my vision because a heavily accented voice drifted out to meet me, and I was shook to realise it belonged to a woman.

“No, darling, this colour drains you completely.” She tutted. “Strip. Take it off, instantly. Don’t argue, darling, I’m the only one judging you.”

I should have walked on, but her words made me curious, so I was one step towards the door and one step away before an old lady backed into my vision and I couldn’t move anywhere. She certainly wasn’t a member of the Royal Staff, as she stood six feet tall in a pair of heels and had dark hair down to her waist, which were both against regulation. Her small torso was draped in a golden poncho, and her eyes were magnified tenfold by a pair of thick rimmed glasses, which were coordinated with red lipstick.

“Don’t snap the buckle, Jongin, or I’ll have to skin your…”

Her sentence dwindled into nothingness as she spotted me in the doorway, giant eyes squinting thin as she inspected me from some metres away. A noise of confusion was made by the boy she was with, but she hushed him sharply before striding forward and gripping my arm. Her nails were long and stabbed into my skin, but I was more preoccupied in how disappointed Chanyeol’s mother would be when I lost my job just a day into it all. Instead of apologising, I kept my head lowered and said nothing, even as my captor began speaking.

“Put the auburn on again, Jongin.” She instructed. “No, the silken one.”

I heard a quiet groan of annoyance, followed by a rustle of fabric, before I dared to raise my head and take in my surroundings.

The room was spacious and well lit, even though the natural light was turning to a deep yellow. Jongin’s bed was giant and plush, covered with layers of plaited bedding and cushions the colour of old parchment, and was arisen only short distance above the stone ground by wooden legs. My eyes drifted to the other side of the room and I subtly inspected the view of the gardens through his windows.

That is, before the grip on my arm transferred to my shoulder and I looked up to the Prince instinctively.

He was younger than his brother by a year, I had learnt from Jongdae, but I wouldn’t have known from his taller and broader form. He stood in front of us draped in a brown shirt that seemed to drip from his wide shoulders to accentuate a narrow torso, and I held my breath as Jongin unbuttoned the cuffs and roll the thin fabric up to his elbows. His eyes were lowered the entire time, and the dark colour of the shirt contrasted with the red blush creeping down his neck from his high cheeks. A rush of influence raced through my stomach at the thought that my stare could make a Prince blush, although this stupor was broken quickly.

“What do we think, lad? Perhaps a little too neutral with the trousers, hm?”

And all I could think to do was nod and shrug at once, because Jongin had looked up expectantly for my answer and now I was turning red.

“Right, then.” She hummed. “Strip, Jongin, and try your red shirt. It’ll be a rerun of three years ago but no one should notice. Yes, that one.”

As the Prince reached for his top button, eyes glued to the ground, I felt a swell of panic before turning my back on the scene completely to face the wall. The woman with us chortled loudly, hand sliding away from my shoulder to cover her mouth as she laughed. I was certain that my skin was aflame, and that even the back of my neck was sure to be red, but the idea of watching tall and handsome Jongin strip was too much to handle this close to the end of my day.

“Are you sure you’re not going to take this chance?” She asked between chuckles. “It’s quite the view.”

And when I shook my head in response, she simply nodded and looked away.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author Notes
> 
> Kate - Happy New Year everyone! As a new years resolution, I want to write more and post at least once a month. I hoped you liked this chapter, this is a cutesy chapter before the next couple of chapters. Have a good 2017 (say the name) and please hold on for the next chapter.
> 
> Em - Sup dudez it's me, here again with another meh chapter and another promise that I will do better next time. Hope y'all have the greatest 2017 and REMEMBER TO COMMENT LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE :)


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